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WASHINGTING, July 24 (KUNA) -- The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company and three associated individuals - Kim Se Un, Jo Kyong Hun, and Myong Chol Min - for their involvement in the evasion of previous US and UN sanctions on North Korea.
They also helped "generate revenue clandestinely" for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) government, including through fraudulent information technology (IT) worker schemes, the Treasury Dept. said in a press release on Thursday.
"This action to counter the DPRK's wide-ranging revenue generation schemes is part of a collaborative effort with the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Homeland Security Investigations," according to the statement.
"The DPRK relies on front companies like Korea Sobaesku Trading Company and key facilitators to procure materials and generate revenue for the regime's illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs," said Director of OFAC Bradley T. Smith.
"Our commitment is clear: Treasury, as part of a whole-of-government effort, will continue to hold accountable those who seek to infiltrate global supply chains and enable the sanctions evasion activities that further the Kim regime's destabilizing agenda," he noted.
Alongside Treasury, the Department of Justice is unsealing indictments today against seven DPRK nationals for the criminal avoidance of sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act involving the illicit trafficking of counterfeit cigarettes.
Also today, the Department of State is announcing reward offers ranging from up to USD 500,000 to up to USD seven million under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to these individuals' arrest and/or conviction.
The DPRK regime dispatches teams of highly skilled IT workers around the world in order to generate revenue alongside other illicit trade activities, in violation of US and UN sanctions, according to the statement.
The teams of IT workers typically use fraudulent documents, stolen identities, and false personas to obfuscate their identities and infiltrate legitimate companies, including those in the United States and other allied jurisdictions.
The DPRK government withholds most of the wages earned by IT workers, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to support the North Korean regime's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.
In some cases, these DPRK IT workers have introduced malware into company networks to exfiltrate proprietary and sensitive data. (end)
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